Hinderance or advancement? The five rights of medication have been an active participant in the medical field. They are essentially five guidelines for safe medication administration. The five rights to medication administration include the nurse verifying: the right patient, the right drug, the right time, the right dose, and the right route. Although each step has been implemented as a maintenance to improve medication administration throughout the medical field, many question their place. According to an article written by Matthew Grissinger, medication administration poses many risks for patients on the receiving end. Grissinger introduces different theory’s including but not limited to: at what point do medication administers stop following
As it is mentioned earlier, medication administration includes various steps and an interdisciplinary team. Undoubtedly, nurses play a vital role in the medication administration process. Since patient safety is the priority to all health care professionals, it is important for the nurses to effectively communicate and collaborate with an interdisciplinary team if he or she is unsure about any medication prescription to prevent any adverse events. In addition, patient education is another component of safe administration. A patient must be educated on medications they are taking, the reason for taking them, the dosage, a route, potential side effects, and interactions. Nurses should perform “six rights” of the medication each time. Before administering
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA 2009), the wrong route of administrating medication accounts for 1.3 million injuries each year. An article published in September issue of the Journal of Patient Safety estimates there are between 210,000 and 400,000 deaths per year associated with medical errors. This makes medical errors the third leading cause of deaths in the United States, behind that comes heart disease and cancer. To prevent medical errors always follow the Three Checks and most importantly the Rights of Medication Administration. The “Rights of Medication Administration” helps to ensure accuracy when administering medication to a patient. When administering medication the administer should ensure they have the Right Medication, Right Patient, Right Dosage, Right Route, Right Time, Right Route, Right Reason, and Right Documentation. Also remember the patient has the right to refuse, assess patient for pain, and always assess the patient for signs of effects.
Medication errors are the leading cause of morbidity and preventable death in hospitals (Adams). In fact, approximately 1.5 million Americans are injured each year as a result of medication errors in hospitals (Foote). Not only are medication errors harmful to patients but medication errors are very expensive for hospitals. Medication errors cost America’s health care system 3.5 billion dollars per year (Foote).Errors in medication administration occurs when one of the five rights of medication administration is omitted. The five rights are: a) the right dose, b) the right medication, c) the right patient, d) the right route of administration, and e) the right time of delivery (Adams). Medication administration is an essential part of
6. Right documentation- The seven rights should be documented with great detail along with any adverse events and instructions provided to the patient regarding being alert of reactions and what steps to take. This step should always follow the administration of medications. The person who has administered the medication needs to verify again that all the seven rights were followed to make sure that no medication errors were made. After the end of this order,without leaving any lines or spaces the person administering the order signs his or her name along with there credentials and followed by the date and time the order was given. In some instances the medical assistant may write down the information regarding a medication administered by the provider in the provider’s stead,but the provider still needs to sign, date and time the entry personally. The medical assistant should never document a medication for anyone else nor should anyone else record medication that the medical assistant (you)
This article will look at two articles and focus on aspects of safety medication administration in nursing practice by the staff nurses. This is interesting area because the previous report on the medication administration error in the UK shows that approximately 5.6% of doses administered to adult hospital patients and it has been estimated that 0.6-1.2% of medication administration errors may lead to severe harm even death (Mcleod et al, 2013). Leape et al (1995) indicated that nurses were responsible for 86% of all medication error interception, regardless of the original errors. The nurses play the important role in identifying the causes of medication errors and preventing medication administration errors in nursing practice in order to provide safe care toward the service users (Henneman et al, 2010). The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA 2004) documented that the health professionals need to effectively and safely use medicines to ensure patients get the maximum benefit from the medicine; meanwhile minimizing the potential harm. This article will be critiqued on the different types of evidence which explored safety medication administration in the nursing practice toward service user. Using evidence is important in nursing practice because it can help nurses in addressing questions related to best possible care and improve patients’ outcome. It is embedded within the code the nurses are expected to use best possible evidence in the nursing
As clinical site co-ordinator with many years of clinical experience I feel competent in the drug administration via a variety of routes. Generally the patients I attend have become acutely unwell with most prescriptions not having the third eye of a pharmacist and most drugs being delivered intravenously. It is imperative therefore that the prescription and drugs always be thoroughly checked which relies on good communication throughout. Furthermore, most emergency drugs have a protocol for administration developed by the hospital. However within this situation the nurse is generally the last defence before any medication error actually occurs, therefore it is the nurses responsibility to ensure the prescription is correct and to challenge prescription written
Medication should only be prescribed after careful consideration of the patient's best interests. The prescriber should have access to the most up to date version of the British National Formulary (BNF). Dispensing must also be appropriately trained, follow safe systems of work and understand the side effects of various drugs; be able to access appropriate information and understand when to access advice or further information (the dispenser may not necessarily be a trained pharmacist but should be working alongside one). By supporting medication
The nurse must verify the physician’s medication order, including the dose and time, and then the pharmacy is responsible for their own checks and balances via the BCMA system in order to complete the dispensing phase of the medication (Gooder, 2011). The nurse enters the BCMA system with a login and password and is able then to see a list of the virtual due list for a specific patient. The computer on wheels is then taken to that patient’s room and the five rights of medication administration begin. As nurses, we are taught to use the five rights of drug administration are (1) right patient (2) right medication (3) right dose (4) right route and (5) right time. By scanning the barcode on the patient’s hospital identification band, the nurse then asks for the patient to verbally state their name and date of birth, which can be verified by the nurse on the virtual due list and then choses the medication that are due for administration at that time. The medication is dispensed and the nurse is able to scan the barcode on the medication, the scanning triggers the automatic documentation of the medication given (Kelly, 2012).
With the growing reliance on medication therapy as the primary intervention for most illnesses, patients receiving medication interventions are exposed to potential harm as well as benefits. Medicines have proven to be very beneficial for treating illness and preventing disease. This success has resulted in a dramatic increase in medication use in recent times. Unfortunately, this increase in use and expansion of the pharmaceutical industry has also brought with it an increase in hazards, error and adverse events associated with medication use.
Are the “five rights” of the medication administration process being met? If yes, the nurse can continue to the next step. If no, the nurse cannot proceed, because the “five rights” of the medication administration process have not been met.
It is the nurse’s and pharmacist’s job to be cautious and aware of every medication they are administering by using their critical thinking skills and applying what they know to every situation. Although it is important for these individuals to be able to advocate for their patients, it also imperative that prescribers be aware of the impact they have on their patients as their actions have a domino effect. In conclusion, it is not the responsibility of a single profession to maintain safety in medication administration. It is the responsibility of everyone involved in the patient’s care. Each person who takes steps to improve the process and promote the patient as the number one priority is doing their part in refining how the healthcare system views medication
In the context of the War on Drugs, physicians must balance many different competing and contradictory interests when determining how to prescribe in treating a patient. The physician's first interest is in maintaining his duty to properly
Conclusion: Ultimately, a pharmacist’s role would greatly expand with the Provider Status law. In the future, all states should adapt a form of the Provider Status law. Pharmacists should be utilized to their utmost capabilities, they endured four years of education studying medications, their uses and the effects. A pharmacist’s expertise is very vital to a patient’s treatment. Eventually, pharmacists should be granted the right to prescribe
All EMS personnel must take into consideration the “Six Rights” of medications: Right person, Right drug, Right dose, Right time, Right route, Right documentation.
A physician could make mistakes in prescribing, the pharmacy could send the wrong medication, but who actually gave it to the patient is accountable for the consequences. For this reason, it’s our responsibility to implement change in our practice based on the evidence in order to ensure safe patient care.